U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,882 granted on 5 Feb. 1980, discloses a nebuliser of liquid which comprises a manually deformable container having a neck and an opening. On the opening is provided an elastic baffle provided with holes, supporting at its centre a liquid distribution nozzle connected to a suction tube. On the opening is also applied a covering element provided with a central exhaust orifice. Between the covering element and the elastic baffle is created a mixing chamber in which the liquid coming from the interior of the container through the suction tube is mixed with the air escaping due to the internal overpressure of the container through the holes of the elastic diaphragm.
The flow rate and density of the jet is regulated by varying the distance between the covering element and the liquid distribution nozzle thanks to a screw-on coupling between the covering element and the neck of the bottle.
Lastly, on the covering element is applied a screw-on cap which closes the mixing chamber, preventing liquid from escaping outwards.
While nebulisers of this kind are widely used on bottles for mass-distributed products, they are nonetheless not very practical because they have an additional element to be handled during use. After unscrewing the cap, the user has to stow it temporarily, if (s)he is unable to hold it in his/her hands, then retrieve it after use and close the bottle therewith. A series of drawbacks can be encountered, e.g. the annoying search for the cap, the possibility that it may be lost or that someone, such as a small child, may use it improperly. Moreover, in this kind of nebuliser, as mentioned above, the jet is regulated with the covering element, whilst the closure has to be performed by screwing the cap on. This entails a waste of time for the user.
There is also an Italian patent by the same Applicant, pertaining to a nebulisation dispenser head for bottles which can be elastically deformed by squeezing, wherein the jet is orthogonal to the axis of the bottle. In this dispenser head, a veritable closing door is applied, which may be completed by a tip cap which, entering the outlet hole of the product, allows to seal the system. The door can also be hinged in fixed fashion to the nebuliser device for more a practical operation. This system, which is nonetheless highly limiting with respect to practicable aesthetic solutions, acts exclusively as an on-off device, whereas it is generally important to allow a certain modulation of the spray.